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no more wires but a bit on the jumpy side....

I like modern technology quite a bit, although I'm not the type to sleep out over night outside a department store in order to be the first to get my hands on the latest 'I-phone'. I mean, what on earth possesses people to do that? Why don't they just order one online and wait until the postman, or woman, brings it to them as they stay in the warmth of their own homes? Have these people not got a life? Or a job?Come on... you're supposed to be into technology yet you can't figure out how to 'pre-order' an item on Amazon...??

Anyway, technology. How fast is it going when it comes to making our lives less hassle? (or in some cases, such as face book, less hassle isn't exactly the right words).It's come to the point where we are no longer slaves to the wires that once kept us rooted to the spot when it came to using our computers. Stuck a few feet from the mains socket, inches from the tower, feet from the keyboard, all because the wires didn't want us to wonder off.But now, thanks to technology and the advance of something called 'wireless', and no, I don't mean the old word that Fred Flintstone used to describe a little radio that he listened to when he was at work. I mean 'wireless' as in 'no more need for wires.And it is one particular type of wireless device that I am going to speak, or more write about here. That being a wireless mouse, which of course is a device that you use to scroll around you computer, not one of those little rodent things that runs up your trouser leg in search of some nuts to eat...Anyway, there are many different types of wireless mouse's, (or is it mice? Do you use the word mice when it comes to this type of mouse? I'm not so sure so I'll stick with mouse's for now until I'm told differently). Anyway, there are many types of mouse's on the market, myriads of wired ones and almost as many wireless ones too, with me possibly having tried out at least half of them over my computing time.But this particular mouse is in fact from a company called Logitech, whose products I have used before and been quite happy with most of them, with this actual mouse being the Logitech wireless M325 mouse... not a great name I know but it tells you exactly what it is in the title I supposed...

* What does this mouse look like then..?It looks like your normal mouse really, and it is, but it doesn't have a tail, or more technically called 'wire'.It's not small, being about 95mm long by 60mm wide and 40mm in depth, so it's not going to slide into a laptop bag discretely really, not unless you don't put your laptop in there with it, although a mouse without a laptop is not the same as a laptop without a mouse really?On the top there are the standard two 'click' buttons, left and right, with the scroll wheel nestled in the middle of them.Just behind the 'clicks' there is a little green light the shines happily away when the mouse is in use, letting you know that you've left it on and the battery may be draining away.On either side the shape of the body curves inwards, and the front section drops slightly downwards towards the scroll wheel, almost aerodynamically, although why it has to be this stream line I don't know. It's not like it's going for the fastest land speed record over the salt plains in Northern Oklahoma.If I turn it over I can see that it has a little on/off button which is next to a small indent that houses the little dongle/receiver that goes into the USB port of the PC. Also on the bottom there are tiny little rubber pads on each corner which help raise the mouse off the ground a little bit in order for it to glide around the surface a little easier.

* Do you get anything else...In the pack you should get the mouse itself, a little dongle type unit which is the wireless receiver that slots into a USB port. You should also get a AA battery, which actually came inside the mouse, all I had to do was pull out a slither of plastic which was stopping the positive terminal from making contact.You should also get a little booklet that tells you the basics about this mouse, what it does, how it does it, what not to do and what you should do.

* What do I need to use it...?Well, apart from a hand and the ability to push things about a table, you'll need such specs on your PC as...Windows XP and above, including windows 8, or Mac OS X10.5A spare USB port for the dongle to slot into

And that's about all you need really...

* Is there anything special to say about it..?It's a 2.4GHz wireless system, which is pretty common amongst the wireless world, so I can't really say that it's special in that respect.The top section, where the left and right clicks are, comes in a vast array of colours and even designs, such as blue, red, pink, flowery, ladybird, patterned colour and others too, including the one I have, the good old fashioned, and very dull looking, grey... which is good enough for me anyway as I'm way passed all that fancy new fangled colour scheme. (Just call me boring Betty... although my names not Betty, except maybe on Bank Holiday weekends...)Then there's the scrolling wheel which not only rolls forwards and backwards, it also lets you scroll left and right too, which may come in handy sometimes, depending on what you're actually doing on your PC.

Also, the battery is claimed to be able to last up to a year and a half, or 18 months, which ever comes first, but this is all down to the amount of time you actually use the mouse, such as clicking, scrolling and general moving. every time the light has to shine then the battery drains a little. But you're going to get a fair few months out of a single battery without any loss of performance, which is good in any ones eyes really.

* My opinion...It's not the best mouse I've used, in fact, compared to the like of the Microsoft special I have had for a while, this one is as useful as a chocolate teapot in a heat wave, on a mission to the sun, in the middle of the day. I mean, the Microsoft special may be a bit of a monster in the looks department, compared to this, but at least is went where I wanted it to go. With this I mean that when I move this mouse on any surface, a table made of wood or even a mouse mat, the little icon on the screen doesn't quite go in a straight line. In fact, I've walked home from the pub in a straighter line after the works Christmas party last year... )it's normally a twenty minute walk home from that particular club but it took me nearly ninety minutes for some reason, and then I tried unlocking the front door with donar kebab I found in my pocket...???? Don't ask)...Anyway, this strange movement of the icons isn't really a major issue on a day to day basis, but when it came to more, shall we say, delicate work, where the icon needed to be placed in exactly the right position, then it took double the time to get there, which then annoyed me so much that I ended up using the touchpad and shouting some rather rude words at the mouse, (maybe it could understand me in a way).

Also, I find this mouse to be more sensitive than Mother Teresa in a maternity ward. I mean, it seems the slightest bit of air pressure on the 'click' buttons and the mouse thinks you have just pushed the button with the force of a police baton on a students head. I have tried changing the settings in my PC but this just made matter worse, at one point I think I just looked at the button and it opened up a link to some Russian love nest filled with 'ladies' that want to 'meet their perfect man'. Damned pop ups... there everywhere... although this one looks quite good :-o

As for the shape of it? Well, this is one of the better designs I've used, and seen if I;m honest, although there are some out there that would not look out of place on an episode of stargate SG1. With this one the sides are curved inwards, is that concaved or convex? I think it's concaved?, but anyway, the sides curve inwards nicely and have a slightly rough rubber texture so that you can get a better grip. This rough texture is not uncomfortable in the slightest, I don't really notice it, it just helps me move the mouse around without my thumb and fingers slipping anywhere. This design feels comfortable in my hands but I suppose the comfort thing is going to be different depending on the size of your hands really.So the shape and feel of the mouse is not a problem at all.

I like the fact that the little receiver/dongle has a lovely little hole to be pushed into for if and when you have to take the mouse to another PC. This was you know where the receiver is and you are reassured that where ever the mouse goes the receiver goes with it.As for the receiver itself. This is tiny, about the size of a one pence piece, only more square. Although it is a bit thicker than a penny and in not other way resembles one either, so don't be trying to spend a penny with it as it won't work, (tee hee).This receiver does mange to pick up the mouse's reception without any trouble at all, sometimes picking it up maybe a little 'too good' if you know what I mean. but at no point as it ever lost contact and left my icon hanging in mid space.I'm normally quite close to the PC that I am using this mouse on but I have moved it away a little bit more than normal, just to try it out, and it has still worked fine. In fact, my view of the screen has gone before the connection was lost so there's no danger of this one failing you in that respect.

* Now for the price..?This wireless mouse sells for about £15 - £20, which sounds low for a wireless mouse but you really do get what you pay for in this case.

* Would I recommend this one..?I'd have to first ascertain as to what exactly you are going to use this mouse for? If it's just for general browsing the interenet or files and things on your PC then you can't really go wrong with this one as it will do exactly what it is supposed to do.However, if you told me that you are going to need ot for editing images, maybe even a little bit of CAD, something more technical where you have to have the lines spot on, then this could lead to a fair amount of frustration, tantrums, dummy spitting, toy throwing and maybe even a PC repair shop. So I would have to say search for something less 'sensitive and spasmodic' than this one.

In all, a good mouse that strips the wires away but does have a mind of its own...